1. Mining News
Digging deeper
into artisanal and
small-scale mining
by Maria Laura Barreto
Many people tend to associate large-scale operations, heavy
use of technology and multinational companies with mining,
but it’s much more than that. That’s why it serves to examine
the other, equally important and very human face of mining.
Finding Purpose
BACK IN 1981, I WAS A YOUNG LAWYER IN MOZAMBIQUE who had just
started working in the mining sector. The sector was perceived to be very
intensive in capital and technology and over the previous century, it had
become saturated by only a handful of international players.
It was in 1989 when I first encountered the very different reality of
Artisanal and Small Scale Mining (ASM). I was part of a pioneering multidisciplinary research project that was addressing the impacts of mercury
use by this sector.
Into The Heart Of Darkness
I remember reading anything I could get my hands on in order to understand
the ASM phenomenon, but the very limited material available at the time was
of little help. I did manage to find two conflicting visions about the miners in
this sector. One thought, rare and historic in its nature, regarded the miners
as adventurers, pioneers, heroes and symbols of courage. The other vision,
more common and current, considered them to be less than criminal,
embodying attributes that were deemed negative by society.
I decided to travel to Poconé, a project area located at the gates of
Pantanal in Mato Grosso State, in order to see what an ASM operation actually looked like. I wanted to witness the environmental impacts and social
disturbances that were portrayed by the media with my own eyes. More
importantly, I wanted talk with the people that, at the time, were right in
the centre of the country’s social conflicts.
What I discovered was definitely something that was both less poetic
and much scarier than the two visions suggested.
I saw people who were less fortunate and trying to survive through
economic conditions that demanded hard work and offered difficult living
conditions. These people could only dream of being able to live comfortably
and earn proper money one day. I also saw land disturbances, rivers thick
with sedimentation, and witnessed the use of mercury without proper health
or environmental standards. These working conditions posed daily threats,
especially to those directly involved in the mining activities.
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Seeing all of this, I kept asking myself why these people would choose to
work in this industry. Is it worthwhile to live in such harsh conditions?
The answers came through conversations with the miners, who said that
while the work was very difficult, it was available to them and, despite all
of the exploitation, it was much more lucrative than similar activities like
agriculture.
In a world where jobs were becoming more difficult to find, particularly in
rural areas, this activity was not only possible and viable, but it helped the
miners feed their families at the end of the day.
The reason all of this was so important to me as a jeweller was because
it started to unfold the reality behind the extraction of gold and diamonds,
which is not only about machines, technology and capital. It’s a sector built
on a complex and diverse human reality. It’s even more crucial when we
recognize that ASM is responsible for extracting 70 per cent of gems and
around 20 per cent of diamonds and gold in the world. ASM now employs
(directly and indirectly) around 150 million underprivileged people worldwide,
yet it receives almost no support or even recognition for what this workforce
provides.
In my first column, I talked about the importance of dreams in the jewellery business. Today I would like to share a miner’s dream with you. Manuel
Reinoso, a Peruvian ASM leader, made the following remarks to a UN meeting in Nairobi on the reduction of the impacts of mercury:
“Yesterday I had a dream: I was with my family, living in a real house, with
all my children educated. I had a mining title and environmental license to
run my mine. I was paying taxes and royalties to my country. Thanks to the
support of the government, I had adopted clean technologies in my mine. My
gold was eco-certified and sold directly in the developed world for a fair price.
I am convinced that this dream is not only mine; this is a dream of every
artisanal miner in the world, who wants to be recognized as a miner who
builds a responsible future in his country.”
It seems to me that we are approaching a place in the jewellery and ASM
sectors where dreams like this one can be realized. With growing consumer
demand, better market models and certification systems, there is a unique
opportunity to build strong connections and tools that can benefit the industry.
In subsequent columns, I will explore these opportunities and the obstacles
that may stand in the way, as well as the roles that jewellers play in these
schemes. CJ